Paint looks good from a distance, or in a pic, but the paint is not so great when you are up close and personally looking at it. !! But no, I'm not worried about it. Frame came out good, and the oil tank, so really all I have to do is pull the tanks and fenders for a re-do.

knucklebolt wrote:Paint looks good from a distance, or in a pic, but the paint is not so great when you are up close and personally looking at it. !! But no, I'm not worried about it. Frame came out good, and the oil tank, so really all I have to do is pull the tanks and fenders for a re-do.

thanks.

k.

That's pretty much where I am with the Ariel framed bike. The frame and fork was powder coated because it would be so much work to do it later, and the wheels are finished. Some stuff like the footboards are as-supplied finish. So there isn't a huge lot to do.

The bike with the Shovelhead forks is a different matter because the frame needed repair so it really needs to be stripped and painted or powder-coated. I'll probably do a complete strip-and-finish with that one because there is new metal, old metal, and everything in between. The wheels are going to be the problem because they are not great cosmetically but quite sound, so I will end up with wheels that don't match the overall standard of finish, so perhaps I'll just give it a lick of satin black fir now

Shoot, a man could have a good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff...

Thanks Smith, I'll check that out. Once I saw that my scavenger pump was working, I sure felt much better. I was having paranoid delusions of the keys being left off the shaft by whoever built the engine, and then if that was the case, it would have been "oh no what else is wrong??" But I will check out that thread as I'll want to try to stop all the oil going into the crank case, especially since I can't pull my drain plug at the moment.

I kind of lucked out, winding up with nice wheels. Had to get new spokes to get my hub to lace up to my rim, and as the old spokes were kind of ragged, cosmetically speaking, that worked out good. Then the front wheel I found, that finally fit my forks and fender, was a nice unit.

I never had serious wet-sumping with either panhead, although all older bikes will do it to some extent. I've never had it with shovelheads, although you definitely need to spend the time getting all the joints air-tight... but 45s and U series, they will do it, the older style pump is more prone to it.

I've tried fitting taps in the line, also non-return valves in British bikes, but with the older HDs it's just a matter of getting the ball-bearing seats in perfect condition and kicking the bike over occasionally when it's been stood...

Shoot, a man could have a good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff...

Three ways oil can enter the engine while sitting. Check valve not sealing (bad seat or ball), particles in stuck in the seat andworn # 1 cam bushing in the cam cover. Oil comes to that area before the the check valve.I have machined an o-ring groovein the bushing in few some engines to make sure no oil passing that way.Some cast iron pumps have pitting (corrosion)@ seat A radical way is to mount a ball valve on the feed line, but you have to remember to open it before starting up your scooter !!!!!

If one had a valve in the feed line, that cut the ignition when it was closed...that might work. Although....one might kick the bike half to death before remembering the valve was shut, and wondering why it wouldn't start!

I replaced the mainshaft kicker gear, and the kicker clutch thingie today. The old clutch was in not the best shape, and the teeth definitely mesh and seat together way better on the new set. Once I got the gear off the shaft, I see that the kicker gear-teeth are not in the best shape. Not trashed or really bad, but certainly rounded off a bit. The gear in the cover, on the kicker shaft, is in great shape.

One tooth on the clutch was rounded off, but I'm not sure that would cause any skipping, although I'm sure it did not help. The bushing was not loose in the gear like I thought, but it was WAY too loose on the shaft. I think there was enough wobble to allow the not so well meshed clutch and kicker gear to disengage.

I also got the impression that possibly, the bushing was a little too long, and not letting the clutch and gear completely seat/mesh. But that's just a theory. The new gear and clutch certainly mesh better, and you can see they seat together better/deeper.

I'm saving putting the kicker cover on for another day, as a couple of things on it need attention. I'm thinking that the distance the kicker shaft gear sits in, from the cover, is important. (??) Was fun working in the 28 degree garage today! After I get this thing kicking right, I can get back to wiring, and then actually trying to start it. I'll build a fire in the stove when I do that, and devote a whole day to the process.

I got them from J&P, V-Twin mfg I believe. Well, hopefully they will last a couple of years. !! She is kicking over now, and running. They seemed to be pretty good gears, and the bushing had the oil groove in it. Mainshaft kicker gear fit on the shaft perfectly.

Now that she's running, I can fire it up often enough that the crank case doesn't fill up again. Or at least that's the plan. I'm also going to make sure that the check ball springs are putting pressure on the balls....I wonder if, in some cases, those springs get short, or weak, and perhaps that sometimes causes wet-sumping. Or not.